Gary Johnson 2012

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I haven't jumped ship from supporting Ron Paul, but the two are almost the exact same except Gary isn't religious and is WAY younger. Both of which are a plus.
Most people have never heard of Gary Johnson, so here is a little background:http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/front

HISTORY & FAMILY

Governor Johnson, who has been referred to as the ‘most fiscally conservative Governor’ in the country, was the Republican Governor of New Mexico from 1994-2003.

A successful businessman before running for office in 1994, Gov. Johnson started a door-to-door handyman business to help pay his way through college. Twenty years later, he had grown the firm into one of the largest construction companies in New Mexico with over 1,000 employees. Not surprisingly, Governor Johnson brings a distinctly business-like mentality to governing, believing that decisions should be made based on cost-benefit analysis rather than strict ideology.

Johnson is best known for his veto record, which includes over 750 vetoes during his time in office, more than all other governors combined and his use of the veto pen has since earned him the nickname “Governor Veto.” He cut taxes 14 times while never raising them when he left office, New Mexico was one of only four states in the country with a balanced budget.

Term-limited, Johnson retired from public office in 2003. An avid skier, adventurer, and bicyclist, he has currently reached four of the highest peaks on all seven continents, including Mt. Everest.

In 2009, after becoming increasingly concerned with the country’s out-of-control national debt and precarious financial situation, the Governor formed the OUR America Initiative, a 501c(4) non-profit that promotes fiscal responsibility, civil liberties, and rational public policy. He traveled to more than 30 states and spoke to over 150 conservative and libertarian groups during his time as Honorary Chairman.

He has two grown children- a daughter Seah and a son Erik and currently resides in a house he built himself in Taos, New Mexico.

PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Scaled the highest peaks of 4 continents, including Everest.

Competed in the Bataan Memorial Death March, a 25 mile desert run in combat boots wearing a 35 pound backpack.

DRUG POLICY REFORM
Despite our best efforts at enforcement, education and interdiction, people continue to use and abuse illegal drugs.
The parallels between drug policy today and Prohibition in the 1920’s are obvious, as are the lessons our nation learned. Prohibition was repealed because it made matters worse. Today, no one is trying to sell our kids bathtub gin in the schoolyard and micro-breweries aren’t protecting their turf with machine guns. It’s time to apply that thinking to marijuana. By making it a legal, regulated product, availability can be restricted, under-age use curtailed, enforcement/court/incarceration costs reduced, and the profit removed from a massive underground and criminal economy.
By managing marijuana like alcohol and tobacco – regulating, taxing and enforcing its lawful use – America will be better off. The billions saved on marijuana interdiction, along with the billions captured as legal revenue, can be redirected against the individuals committing real crimes against society. Harder drugs should not be legalized, but their use should be dealt with as a health issue – not a criminal justice issue.

Donator

I've been watching the debate, I think he's gotten to speak twice in 80 minutes

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Oh, good. Exactly what I expected. Let me guess, it was the Perry/ Romney show again? Did they plug Perry's book another 20 times. Did they ask nothing but questions about Perry's record? Fuck that shit makes me mad. Quit fucking trying to choose the next president for us, you fucking cock suckers. How about an old fashioned debate where everyone is asked the exact same question and they all get a chance to respond? Then they can bicker amongst themselves for the last 1/3 of the debate.

Haha. Did you watch his commercial I posted above. He really tips his hat to Ron Paul.

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I didn't see it until just now. Nice.

He did very well in the debate, for how much time he had. Gingrich scares me though. I really think he's going for VP at this point and several of the candidates mentioned him tonight. He'd actually be a much smarter choice for VP than for pres, but I don't fucking trust him. Both him and Santorum just have this evilness about them that I just can't put my finger on.

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Gingrich scares me though. I really think he's going for VP at this point and several of the candidates mentioned him tonight. He'd actually be a much smarter choice for VP than for pres, but I don't fucking trust him. Both him and Santorum just have this evilness about them that I just can't put my finger on.

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Santorum has stated that he doesn't believe that the right to privacy extends to the bedroom (at least when it comes to sodomy) and Gingrich went after Bill Clinton for his affairs even though he was cheating on his own wife all along. Those are both fairly evil.

Donator

Santorum has stated that he doesn't believe that the right to privacy extends to the bedroom (at least when it comes to sodomy) and Gingrich went after Bill Clinton for his affairs even though he was cheating on his own wife all along. Those are both fairly evil.

But Gingrich really wasn't a part of that whole "morality" thing against Clinton if I recall. It was other conservatives, mostly not even elected officials really. Gingrich and Clinton butted heads on policy, nothing really wrong with that and actually came together on a lot of things.

Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson condemned the booing of a gay servicemember that occurred at Thursday night's Fox News/Google GOP debate, and he expressed regret for not speaking up at the time.

In an interview with Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC, the former New Mexico governor said the incident -- in which a gay soldier serving in Iraq was loudly booed -- was "not right" and not representative of the Republican party he belongs to.

"If I have one regret from last evening, it’s that I didn’t stand up and say, you know, you’re booing a U.S. serviceman who is denied being able to express his sexual preference," he said. "There’s something very, very wrong with that."

Johnson said he was "chomping at the bit" to respond to the audience, but he was reticent to speak out due to his exclusion from the recent debates. "I’m feeling a little bit like I’m walking on egg shells," he said.

He told Sharpton he believes the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which went into effect on Sept. 20, should have been done "a long time ago."

Sharpton asked Johnson about the unexpected outbursts from audience members that have characterized the last three Republican debates. At the Reagan Library debate on Sept. 7, the audience spontaneously applauded the mere mention of executions performed under the Texas governorship of Rick Perry. During the Sept. 12 CNN/Tea Party debate, Wolf Blitzer asked a hypothetical question about the fate of a sick, uninsured patient. "Are you saying society should just let him die?" Blitzer asked, provoking cheers of "Yeah!" from the audience.

Johnson, agreeing with Sharpton's description of the incidents as "ugly," called himself "the different voice in that debate." He said that he views the death penalty as "flawed public policy," and he argued in favor of caring for the sick, adding that "government perhaps is the only entity that's available" for the most needy. "Let him die? No, that’s not this country," he said. "We are a country of compassion. These are the people that we want to help."

Donator

You like a guy who doesn't have the courage of his convictions to follow through with what he feels is right? He's too easily swayed by the mob mentality in an effort to "fit in"? Doesn't sound like Presidential material to me. Maybe in 2016 Gary.

Donator

You like a guy who doesn't have the courage of his convictions to follow through with what he feels is right? He's too easily swayed by the mob mentality in an effort to "fit in"? Doesn't sound like Presidential material to me. Maybe in 2016 Gary.

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Nice try. The guy was on a nationally televised debate with rules. They didn't ask him how he felt about the issue. They asked Santorum and moved on. He was already on thin ice, since the Florida Republican party didn't even want him at the debate, but Fox News changed the rules anyway and let him in. At least he has come out and followed up on the position (on an national news-talk show), which is more than anyone can say for any of the other people on the stage that night. Well, that's not entirely true. Rick Santorum came out and condemned the "booing", even though he was the guy advocating throwing gays out of the military, while it was happening.

"My next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this current administration," the former New Mexico governor said.

Here are four interesting things people may not know about Johnson.

He is a fitness buff, and a true Ironman.

Johnson has participated in Ironman triathlons, in which participants must swim, bike and run their way to the finish line.

''These are truly elite athletes, some of the best in the world,'' he told The New York Times in 1997. ''Half of these people are sculpted individuals who have devoted their lives to triathlons.''

He has also ridden his bike across the state of New Mexico several times and once participated in a commemoration run of the Bataan Death March, for which he wore army boots, military fatigues, and carried a pack that weighed 35 pounds, according to the Ironman Web site.

He has used marijuana for medicinal purposes, and thinks it should be legalized.

After an accident in 2005, Johnson decided to take a more circumventive route for his pain, as he disliked the side effects of painkillers and going through withdrawal. He smoked pot medicinally from 2005 to 2008, The Weekly Standard reported in 2010.

"Rather than using painkillers, which I have used on occasion before, I did smoke pot, as a result of having broken my back, blowing out both of my knees, breaking ribs, really taking about three years to recover," Johnson told TWS.

He believes the country will benefit from legalizing marijuana.

"Control it, regulate it, tax it," Johnson said in a video interview in Feb. with CBS News. "It's never going to be legal for kids to smoke pot or buy pot. It's never going to be legal for somebody to smoke pot, become impaired, get behind the wheel of a car or do harm to others."

He's climbed Mount Everest, and then some.

Johnson climbed Mount Everest in 2003. He was 50 years old. The most terrifying moment was when part of the Khumbu icefall collapsed on the way down.

"That was the scariest part of the whole thing," he said, The Associated Press reported.

Johnson had turned off his oxygen when he was at the top of the mountain and forgot to turn it back on for about two hours, The AP reported. His hiking partner was the one who noticed.

"I bonked," Johnson said, The AP reported.

Johnson has also climbed Mount Elbrus in Russia, Mount McKinley in Alaska, and Mount Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa.

He believes that government should stay out of certain issues, including same-sex marriage and stem cell research.

Johnson believes that stem cell research should not be federally funded and should take place in private laboratories, per his presidential campaign Web site.

When it comes to abortion, he supports a woman's right to choose "up until viability of the fetus," he said in a video interview last month with CNSNews.com.

He spoke about his refusal to sign the Iowa pledge that goes against same-sex marriage in a Fox News video interview in July.

"No, I wouldn't be signing that," he said. "I support gay unions. I think that the government should get out of the marriage business, leave that to the states."

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A Presidential candidate who has actually been a medical marijuana patient. That's an original point of view to argue from.